Trouble logging in?If you can't remember your password or are having trouble logging in, you will have to reset your password. If you have trouble resetting your password (for example, if you lost access to the original email address), please do not start posting with a new account, as this is against the forum rules. If you create a temporary account, please contact us right away via Forum Support, and send us any information you can about your original account, such as the account name and any email address that may have been associated with it.

Well finally got a chance to see this. Poor Rika just can't catch a break . Things are going nicely, she's just trying to enjoy herself after god knows how long of a hellish nightmare.

These worlds come out randomly but this seems way too bizarre. I could see random chance making a couple of these things happen. But for every single good possible thing to happen to the other characters is just weird. Takano not being there is just sending up weird flags. She is always there no matter what other things change.

It's just too bad that the OVA episodes are spread out like that. I really want to see the next part now .

I liked this episode...although I'm curious. If this takes place after Matsuribayashi-hen, why was Hanyuu a ghost when they were riding their bikes home? And after watching this episode I find myself liking the art style more.

Hanyuu was corporeal when she and Rika spoke to Ichirou but incorporeal again afterwards. There's no reason to think she can't switch between the two states at will.

I just can't help but think that the last scene in Kai (with Frederica and Miyoko) was a big foreshadowing of this, in fact, "Frederica" may have set Rika up the bomb... err... set this whole scenario up just to see Rika's reaction... quite amusing though... what IS Rika going to do about this?

I loved that episode, simply for the reason why I really liked higurashi in the past. It makes the viewer to come up with his/her own theories and compare those with later episodes how close it was true.

Spoiler for warning long post. My thoughts, theories on ep2, and some small spoilers from the episodes before:

I've found it strange Rika didn't included Hanyuu when she said "thanks to the clubmembers she finally triumphed".

The other thing that started to bug me comes after when she wokes up in the next world. I may be totally off and laugh how far is my crazy theory when I watch next episode, but I actually think, that world is a continuation of the epilogue when Frederika/grown Rika (I'm still not sure which she was supposed to be) prevented Takano's real dad to get in the bus accident, so she didn't pursued old Dr. Takano's research, as she wasn't an orphan.
The proof that Dr. Takano was interested in the syndrom here on that world too, is how he founded/had some relation with the people who founded the clinic, as they/he named it after him. By that logic if the syndrom wouldn't exist in that world, he probably wouldn't have been that interested to scientifically research a completely normal small town.

Therefore the project to station a research team in Hinamizawa didn't happened, because nurse Takano (what was her name Miyano or something, I'm so forgetful with japanese names of the unsympathetic characters) didn't even know the existence of him and he didn't had any capable successor. As the Tokyo group was not established here, they didn't kidnapped the minister's son, so eventually the Dam construction got approved (that's the theorys weakest part, gonna elaborate it at the end)

Because the opposition didn't went far (I assume the Tokyo group supported the whole opposition, more on that later), the Houjo family escaped their role as a scapegoat, that's why satoko didn't killed her parents because no one bullied them for supporting the dam. Of course because the Houjo parents are still alive, Satoshi-Satoko didn't moved in with their uncle (to Bel Air. And they didn't whistled for a cab. Haha I couldn't resist ), so Satoshi didn't went berserk here either.
Because Hinamizawa going to be a lake next year, K1's family probably moved to a different peaceful town, as it's unlikely they want to move here for such a short time only (I reckon the government wouldn't even allow it anyway).
Further proof that the syndrome exist is how the superstition was present that they shouldn't move anywhere fearing from Oyashiro's wrath. (The scene actually hints that Rika's parents are probably still alive. I honestly don't know why she couldn't be happy to see them again even if for a short time only. Especially considering when could have been the last time she seen them...)

If I assume everything so far, what I don't understand is the following:
Where is Hanyuu here? She isn't related in any way to nurse takano's early days.
If we assume the hinamizawa syndrome exist (it is heavily implied) the demons which inhabitated Hinamizawa centuries ago (I assume they are Hanyuu's race hence the horns) should have existed here too. I've found it actually strange that Rika was rather looking for K1 before trying to find her long time companion Hanyuu. Probably we gonna find out next episode though, hauhau nano desu~.

What I mentioned before and I still don't understand fully, is 5 years ago when the residents was opposing the Dam construction -even if it was weak-. (mind you I may be remembering that wrong, I watched it quite some time ago) The very first killing aka the Dismemberment of the Dam supervisor was not the action of the Tokyo group (they wouldn't have kidnapped the minister son than).
As far as I remember it happened because the workers went nuts, supposedly because of all the hate and resentment from the opposing residents caused the syndrome to escalate. But they opposed here too! So why didn't the first murder happened here? I assume (assumed before) that nurse Takano's group were supporting the opposition against the Dam construction and probably stirring up trouble to both parties in order to gain time and they could kidnap the minister's son. What I don't like in that part of the theory, is how we didn't seen any firm proof wether the Tokyo group where supporting the opposition in any way or not.

Uh such a long unrefined post, sorry about it, my mind is still a bit fuzzy.

edit:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baru

I just can't help but think that the last scene in Kai (with Frederica and Miyoko) was a big foreshadowing of this, in fact, "Frederica" may have set Rika up the bomb... err... set this whole scenario up just to see Rika's reaction... quite amusing though... what IS Rika going to do about this?

The very first killing aka the Dismemberment of the Dam supervisor
As far as I remember it happened because the workers went nuts, supposedly because of all the hate and resentment from the opposing residents caused the syndrome to escalate. But they opposed here too! So why didn't the first murder happened here?

The impression I get from the episode was that opposition to the Dam Project was weak and defused early. As a result, hate and resentment didn't build up to the point of driving the dam construction workers beserk. So no murder.

Quote:

Because Hinamizawa going to be a lake next year, K1's family probably moved to a different peaceful town,

It's actually more than that from what I've heard. But we don't know if it will be mentioned in the next episode, so let's not talk about it now. You can find some of the details in other discussions here. The common theme within Reina and Satoko's backgrounds should be enough of a clue.

Quote:

The proof that Dr. Takano was interested in the syndrom here on that world too, is how he founded/had some relation with the people who founded the clinic, as they/he named it after him. By that logic if the syndrom wouldn't exist in that world, he probably wouldn't have been that interested to scientifically research a completely normal small town.

I'd speculate that, without Miyo around, Mifumi spent the last of his resources to establish the clinic as a cover for limited personal research after his backers walked out on him. It looks like he didn't manage much progress before dying and his research died with him.

The impression I get from the episode was that opposition to the Dam Project was weak and defused early. As a result, hate and resentment didn't build up to the point of driving the dam construction workers beserk. So no murder.

Spoiler for :

Yeah that's for sure, but what I am interested in finding out is why was the opposition weak here? Was it because in normal worlds the Tokyo groups stirs up trouble between the two groups, perhaps in order to gain time? We haven't seen any hard evidence which supports that so far, and my initial response was that they wouldn't even interfere, because it could endanger their secrecy, plus they are kidnapping the minister's son anyway so why bother with it.
If I am not far from the truth, we gonna find out soon anyway, but I really like to speculate about that. Actually that's the reason why I liked the first Higurashi series more, as it gives you so much to speculate about, while I didn't particularly enjoyed quite some episodes in the Kai series (like yeah let's unite Voltron throughout 3 episodes, in order to gain Satoko's freedom from her vile scheming Uncle! Plus all of Takano's past didn't really left me with much to think about. I actually felt an urge to skip those parts)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy C

It's actually more than that from what I've heard. But we don't know if it will be mentioned in the next episode, so let's not talk about it now. You can find some of the details in other discussions here. The common theme within Reina and Satoko's backgrounds should be enough of a clue.

Well, that seems like the most logical cause (at least for me), but because that's not twisted and complicated enough (and it would leave K1 fanboys out at the beginning of the season especially), I wouldn't be surprised if the reason why he's not here is something else. I'm avoiding spoilers like a plague, so as I said I may be totally off about everything .

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmy C

I'd speculate that, without Miyo around, Mifumi spent the last of his resources to establish the clinic as a cover for limited personal research after his backers walked out on him. It looks like he didn't manage much progress before dying and his research died with him.

Yeah that's for sure, but what I am interested in finding out is why was the opposition weak here? Was it because in normal worlds the Tokyo groups stirs up trouble between the two groups, perhaps in order to gain time? We haven't seen any hard evidence which supports that so far, and my initial response was that they wouldn't even interfere, because it could endanger their secrecy, plus they are kidnapping the minister's son anyway so why bother with it.

Spoiler:

Takano fought tooth and nail to prevent the flooding of Hinamizawa. Without her and her patrons' support, perhaps the government was much more strongly in favor of the project and Oriou realized that she didn't have any chances of victory. And of course, the event that saved Hinamizawa was the withdrawal of the minister of construction's support from the dam project.

Quote:

Originally Posted by izmosmolnar

Well, that seems like the most logical cause (at least for me), but because that's not twisted and complicated enough (and it would leave K1 fanboys out at the beginning of the season especially), I wouldn't be surprised if the reason why he's not here is something else. I'm avoiding spoilers like a plague, so as I said I may be totally off about everything .

Spoiler:

Keiichi managed to bear the stress from being bullied without attacking small children with a BB gun. As a result he never had to leave and go to Hinamizawa.

Quote:

Originally Posted by izmosmolnar

I agree, your theory actually sounds more reasonable.

Spoiler:

Hifumi actually got the funding to study the Hinamizawa Syndrome and he built the clinic using that money.

Hanyuu was corporeal when she and Rika spoke to Ichirou but incorporeal again afterwards. There's no reason to think she can't switch between the two states at will.

Hmm.. I see. But when was this again? I can't recall..

Quote:

Originally Posted by izmosmolnar

Spoiler for :

Yeah that's for sure, but what I am interested in finding out is why was the opposition weak here? Was it because in normal worlds the Tokyo groups stirs up trouble between the two groups, perhaps in order to gain time? We haven't seen any hard evidence which supports that so far, and my initial response was that they wouldn't even interfere, because it could endanger their secrecy, plus they are kidnapping the minister's son anyway so why bother with it.
If I am not far from the truth, we gonna find out soon anyway, but I really like to speculate about that. Actually that's the reason why I liked the first Higurashi series more, as it gives you so much to speculate about, while I didn't particularly enjoyed quite some episodes in the Kai series (like yeah let's unite Voltron throughout 3 episodes, in order to gain Satoko's freedom from her vile scheming Uncle! Plus all of Takano's past didn't really left me with much to think about. I actually felt an urge to skip those parts)

Spoiler for ep2:

Could it be because that the Hinamizawa Syndrome didn't exist, therefore they don't have that RAGE caused by it to drive their actions of opposing the dam?

Quick continuity question: In the beginning of the episode, they all reflect to episode 1.. isn't ep 1 supposed to be before Matsuribayashi? And this arc is after? Wtf continuity?

I think it's better if we just assume that Ep1 has nothing to do with the timeline (it's way too ridiculous to even really occur to begin with), and the reflection is referring to something else that may have played out similarly with Keiichi's... erm... "lil bro"

He actually managed to cure the disease and did it in such a way that no one in the village knew anything about it. I kinda forgot this is the world where everything that could go right did go right.

Spoiler for about the possibility:

Yeah that might be explainable, but I don't think that's the case. In normal worlds the Tokyo group researched it more than 5 years (5 yearly oyashiro-sama's curse, plus the time between the Dam killing and the establishment of the clinic + old Dr. Takano's research aswell) and they still don't understand the illness fully. Irie mentioned to Shion at the end of Kai episodes, how little they still know about the syndrome, hence why Satoshi is unconscious. Fair enough, the Tokyo group's true secret intention is to gain a chemical weapon from that, but they were trying their very best to research an antidote (especially with the gentle pedo-Irie around)
But if they sacrificed so much funding and researched more than 5+ years with multiple personnel, I find it unlikely that there is a realistic chance that Dr. Takano alone (especially without the assistance of Lambade-, uh I mean nurse Takano) without proper fundings managed to treat all 3000+ residents and eliminate the cause of the illness itself and all these BEFORE the very first Dam murder...
Especially considering how the illness is a regional thing and people doesn't spread it themselves (otherwise even ex-Hinamizawa residents who moved somewhere else would spread it in entire different regions).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eryops

Spoiler:

Keiichi managed to bear the stress from being bullied without attacking small children with a BB gun. As a result he never had to leave and go to Hinamizawa.

Spoiler for That's sounds possible too:

but I hope that's not the case. My whole theory is based on that Frederika/future Rika interfered with nurse Takano's past and prevented her parents to die, so she remained a cute (?) little girl, without ever going evil. (And I believe it's still entirely possible. It's amazing how much a loli's acts can affect the whole future. No wonder they made her into a wit- ehm. going on! )

But that doesn't involve Keiichi in any way. It's very unlikely that after Frederika interacted with Miyo (think that's her name), she went all the way to somewhere else in Japan (not to mention she had to timetravel too!), so she could prevent K1 to harass little girls.
K1 was never infected with the syndrom (except in the higurashi arcs, but that's after moving there of course) so we cannot even explain it in such a way that, he had been infected with Hinamizawa syndrome which ultimately caused him to shoot little girls with BB guns, because he never even been to Hinamizawa before.
Well whatever. K1 is one of the most popular characters, I'm sure the show going to reveal the truth behind his absence at the later episodes (I just hope they not going to explain it with some kinda absurd reasoning)

Didn't Rika mention during Kai that the reason K1 moved to Hinamizawa was because his father saw two little girls playing in a field? Specifically Rika and Hanyuu, therefore suggesting that Hinamizawa was a good (safe) place to raise children (ironic isn't it?). If this event does not happen, K1 doesn't move to Hinamizawa.

It's also very probable that keichi raped little girls or whatever he did to them, but still his parents did not move to hinamisawa, Rika had already mentioned that it has happened before. And that is more likely to happen sicne hinamisawa is oging to be submerged.

Spoiler for about takano clinic:

Remeber that the reason takano did not get funding was because the guy helping him (I forgot the name) was busy the day he presented his plans; if for some simple random reason (like keichi's parents traveling to tokyo in different days) the whole meeting gets moves one day, he can get funds from tokyo.

There is some talk about 5 years of research, but if takano got funds from tokyo, we are talking that he has 20 or more years of headstart over miyo, so even if it takes him longer to find the cure for the disease, he still has a lot fo time to do so.

Remeber that the reason takano did not get funding was because the guy helping him (I forgot the name) was busy the day he presented his plans; if for some simple random reason (like keichi's parents traveling to tokyo in different days) the whole meeting gets moves one day, he can get funds from tokyo.

There is some talk about 5 years of research, but if takano got funds from tokyo, we are talking that he has 20 or more years of headstart over miyo, so even if it takes him longer to find the cure for the disease, he still has a lot fo time to do so.

Yeah that might be true, but I think then we are forgetting something. First: keep it in mind that the whole Tokyo group always intended to gain a weapon from the whole syndrome.

Spoiler for that scenario:

Let's assume the scenario that the tokyo group would have been involved with Dr Takano and Nurse 34 is still all smiles and happy with her own family so she is out of picture:
The Tokyo group would have no reason not to send such messy characters like okonogi (or what was his name, the right hand man, I might mispelled it) and his fellow brigand band to Hinamizawa. Obviously the Tokyo would secretly put someone just as aggressive, cunning person with leadership skills (in the place of nurse 34) in charge there (if that person would be the new doctor I'm deeply impressed with his actorial abilities, as he looks completely incapable of everything ). And it was shown in the episode that Okonogi's band is not here because Rika was looking for them too.
Even if we assume Miyo, Okonogi and Co is not here, the Tokyo group would try to prevent the Dam construction in their own way (and they are powerful, so I reckon they could prevent it without them) if they would be interested, because it's unlikely they could have finished researching everything 5years ago regarding the Syndrome (not to mention that the Doctor died x years before that time anyway as it was shown in the nurse's Past, most likely without successor) +found a way to use it as a weapon, +have a manufacturable antidote, and possibly even cured all the people who could have been affected in order to brush everything under the carpet, so no one else can suspect them. (And by the way we all know what their favorite "brushing everything under the carpet" method is...)

Quote:

Didn't Rika mention during Kai that the reason K1 moved to Hinamizawa was because his father saw two little girls playing in a field? Specifically Rika and Hanyuu, therefore suggesting that Hinamizawa was a good (safe) place to raise children (ironic isn't it?). If this event does not happen, K1 doesn't move to Hinamizawa.

yes but I believe that scene happens only after K1 got into the shooting incident which made his Dad to start looking for a new place where he could work in peace. He was carrying a photomachine as far as I remember which we could interpret it even such a way that he was making photos so they can decide it with mommy or even with Keichii if the place is alright to move. Obviously it might be possible that he was only using photographs to inspire himself later with (he's an artist).

Spoiler for k1:

It's also very probable that keichi raped little girls or whatever he did to them, but still his parents did not move to hinamisawa, Rika had already mentioned that it has happened before. And that is more likely to happen sicne hinamisawa is oging to be submerged.

Yeah that's also possible.
I actually just started to think following that.
I was in the impression that multiple things cannot be different in each world, so that's the reason I was assuming that we only need to follow Frederika's interference with Takano, and the result would be pretty much the same as it is now. However! There are no rule which says only one difference can be between Rika's worlds.
Or I go even further. What if Frederika interfered with loli 34 in an already different world (the same one we got after the reboot in now), and that's why some things like K1's absence are "normal" here. I mean not the result of anyone's interference, instead it's only the abnormality by chance, random misfortune in which case, -just like in past worlds according to Rika, his parents simply did not move to Hinamizawa here.

It's also very probable that keichi raped little girls or whatever he did to them, but still his parents did not move to hinamisawa, Rika had already mentioned that it has happened before. And that is more likely to happen sicne hinamisawa is oging to be submerged.

Spoiler for Saikoroshi-hen:

No, the VN specifically states that he was able to deal with the stress of being bullied without shooting anyone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by izmosmolnar

Yeah that might be true, but I think then we are forgetting something. First: keep it in mind that the whole Tokyo group always intended to gain a weapon from the whole syndrome.

The main reason Tokyo decided to fund that project was that Koizumi felt guilty about not being able to help Hifumi, which is why he tried to redeem himself by supporting Myio. Without him pushing for it Tokyo would have never been interested in that project. The fact that they try to cancel it immediately after Koizumi dies is ample evidence of that.